Inheritance from DF that isn't on birth certificate

[whateveryouwanttocallme]

I'm posting for a very close friend of mine on here as she just asked me this over text and we've tried to find answers online but can't find a solid answer anywhere! She found out through another friend that her ex who is the DF of their daughter(now 15yo) passed away a few days ago. They were never in a relationship, it was a fling/friends with benefits and she ended up getting pregnant and found out after they broke it off. He knew, paid child maintenance and did a DNA test to confirm paternity but wasn't involved and therefore never knew or met the daughter. He's not listed on the birth certificate. He then got married and had 2 more children with his wife. She's wondering if her daughter would get some of his inheritance?

If she's a beneficiary in the Will, she should get contacted by Solicitor/Executors.
Presumably if she hears nothing, she is not mentioned.
I think anyone can request a copy of a Will [for £5?] AFTER Probate has been granted. You probably need identifying details though.

if my hypothetical deceased husband received twice or more of his salary as a death benefit, I would give 3x yearly maintenance to his child with another woman
Good for you. I wouldn’t. Not when my own DC had also lost their father and I needed money to raise them. The widow doesn’t have to give the daughter anything, OP’s friend needs to get a solicitor.

They dont have to, no but they are all his children.

Bizarre that her daughter’s father has recently passed away, she hasn’t even told her yet (why? She’s 15 and it’s been four days?), but seems more concerned with trying to figure out what money she can get from his estate and life insurance. Very questionable motives here imo, and from the sounds of it his family may not even know he has another child. Unless he has a sizeable estate I think it’s best to leave it, as others have said, if it’s a modest estate everything will go to his wife anyway, so this will be a lot of heartache and upset for nothing.

*a few days

They’re all HIS children. They’re not his widow’s children. She isn’t responsible for his other child. If his estate has no money to dish out to his children that’s not his widow’s problem.

I doubt your friend will get anything op. He’d have had to actually name her daughter or vaguely state ‘I’m leaving x to split between all my children’ for her to get anything. Do you know why he wasn’t on the birth certificate or why they didn’t have a relationship. It does seem a bit money grabbing to find out that her father had died and immediately be more concerned about getting her hands on his money, house and car than worrying about this mans family (including her daughter) losing him.

She can get something under the inheritance act as she was being maintained.
If there is zero money in the estate than nothing can be given but if there is anything, she can be awarded something.
I don't see this as any sort of weird question, their sole context has been paying maintenance for 15 years and suddenly that income won't be there to support the child and one assumes it's needed?

if it’s a modest estate everything will go to his wife anyway

He’d have had to actually name her daughter or vaguely state ‘I’m leaving x to split between all my children’ for her to get anything

Just to point out yet again that the daughter may have a claim under the Inheritance Act if he hasn't left her anything, even if it is a modest estate.

The OP came here for legal advice. People guessing and posting incorrect "advice" doesn't help the OP.

It may be that the estate is worthless or that its value is too low to make it worth pursuing a claim. But the OP's friend is absolutely right to want to ensure that her daughter is adequately provided for if possible.

Did he have a pension? My ex husband died last year (of flu ironically). My son and his younger son (living with his parents ) both get monthly pension as they are in full time education. A lot of faffing with paperwork but ds gets £230/month whilst he stays in fte.

This would be a kinder solution surely?

Also life insurance or death in service is often done in a discretionary basis (even if you say leave all to the cats home) so if you actually have a wife or kids who needed money they can issue it out how they see best and ignore the deceased wishes.

No amount of my money could buy a father daughter relationship. He paid maintenance was this to keep your friend quiet?

What ever deal they had she should stick to it!

their sole context has been paying maintenance for 15 years and suddenly that income won't be there to support the child
His other two DC won’t be getting supported by him either because their father is no longer alive and earning a salary. So why should his first DC be supported when the other two aren’t? It’s the same scenario as if he lost his job - he has no income so therefore he can’t support any of his three children.

Did he have a pension?
Usually a pension is not part of the estate, it goes to the named beneficiary who is normally the wife.

the daughter may have a claim under the Inheritance Act if he hasn't left her anything, even if it is a modest estate
Of course she’d have a claim on a modest estate. My point is that most people’s estate is £0 because house, joint bank accounts, pension, personal possessions, etc usually aren’t counted as part of the estate.

@Rhodri - My comment wasn't aimed at you. You are right that his estate may be zero. A lot may depend on how the house was owned - joint tenants or tenants in common.

"The OP came here for legal advice. People guessing and posting incorrect "advice" doesn't help the OP."

This. It's infuriating.

His total estate is what counts and any equity in the house is split with his wife of course, it's quite likely that there would not be anything over £270k unless he's a high earner. However occupational pensions sometimes do have a small monthly payment for children as part of death in service, this would not affect his other family's income so no need to be concerned in the same way. Is there an intermediary you could approach, contacting his wife seems unnecessarily cruel at this time

The correct advice would be for the friend to see a solicitor

For what it's worth, my experience of contesting a Will, under the inheritance act or anything, is that unless it's a very significant estate, the only people who will financially benefit from that would be the lawyers.

I think an appropriate thing to do would be for the OP's friend to tell her daughter, send the widow a sympathy card (with NO mention of money) and ask if it would be appropriate to attend the funeral. Her daughter may want to know that she was given that opportunity in the future. If the widow doesn't know about the existence of the daughter, she probably should know.

Then let the dust settle for a bit. Absolutely no one in the deceased's immediate family are going to be thinking about a Will and inheritance right now and it would crass and insensitive (at the very least!) to mention it before the funeral.

My guess would be that there will be very little inheritance available and that if the deceased left a widow with, by the sounds if it, young children she won't have the spare cash to just hand over out of a sense of moral obligation re: maintenance. But I might be wrong. Either way, probate will take ages and it's probably better to contact solicitors/executors in a month or so.

If he didn't have a will it would go to his wife (unless he had over £270k in assets in which case his children may get a look in). If he had a will then it would depend if she is listed of not. Not sure I'd want inheritance under these circumstances myself.

any equity in the house is split with his wife
It’s surprising how many people believe this. Most houses are owned as joint tenants - if one tenant dies the other automatically gets the entire house, there is no splitting.

Gosh there's a lot of nonsense on here! Steering clear of that, it's tricky to know how the friend should proceed with the widow without knowing if the widow is aware of the DD.

I understand why people are saying wait until probate, but surely by the time that is done, the widow will have an idea of her financial situation, be starting to plan for her new future and provision for her own children, only to have that all upended if provision then has to be made for this DD?

How does one find out if there is a will or who the solicitor is in such situations without contacting the family directly?

For all those saying this sounds “cold” we are talking about a man who has a 15 year old daughter he never bothered to meet. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her mother focusing on financial provision - this man never bothered to have a relationship with his daughter. Given that he hasn’t been a decent father, some provision from his estate is not much to ask.

@prh47bridge are you a solicitor?

I have a similar query but don't really want to post here. Can you help?

Sorry to hijack OP

"How does one find out if there is a will or who the solicitor is in such situations without contacting the family directly?"

I shared a link up thread. Basically you won't find out until they apply for probate, but there's a process you can follow. You can then see the will (if there is one). And you have 6 months from when probate is granted to challenge the will or make a claim on the estate.

IMO there are two key steps for the friend to take now:

1. Find out whether the widow knows about her daughter, and if she doesn't, inform her sensitively - PP's suggestion of a condolence card with a polite request to attend the funeral sounds sensible.
2. Find out whether there's a will (using the link I shared)

Meanwhile she could get legal advice but there's not going to much advice a solicitor can give without more information, crucially whether there's a will and if so what it says.

Separate from the estate, he might have made his daughter a beneficiary of a life insurance policy or pension, but I think it's more likely those would go to his wife.

If there are discretionary payments (eg life insurance as part of pension or death in services, ops friend could ask for payment to be made to her daughter by the trustees even if she hasn’t been named. These sorts of things are written in discretionary trust to pass outside the estate so the trustees have discretion as to who to pay them too.

As others have said she may also have a claim under the will, intestacy (depending on size of estate) and inheritance act. She should have no shame whatsoever in pursuing it.